I have arrived!

Well, I'm finally here! It was a loooooooooong trip! But so worth it!

So first, an explanation on the blog title - Seon-Mi is our daughter's Korean name and Mee Kyung is my Korean name - so put the two together! You got it! :)

Now on to the trip! I have burst into tears spontaneously at any given moment for no apparent reason! This is a highly emotional trip and one that I will remember the rest of life. I am so grateful that I decided to travel. As we were landing in Korea, it became very surreal. This is my first time back since I left in 1984 and I remember nothing from that time. I can already tell you I plan to be back again soon!

The goodbye with Braedan on Friday evening was rough, as this is the very first time I have left him overnight, much less for six days and to add to it, I will miss his fourth birthday on the 29th. But we've decided to hold off the celebration till I get back and he'll get a baby sister for his birthday!

Danny dropped me at the airport on Saturday morning and after waiting in long lines to check in with my airline, I had to pay $50 extra bucks to check my overweight bag! I did not have enough room to take anything out and put it in my carryon, so I had to fork over the $50 bucks. Again, worth it, as I did not want more than bag on the flight home.

Flight to Dallas was uneventful and went quickly and then the wait began - again! I finally get Travel Call after four months and here I am, waiting again! I boarded Korean air at about 11am Texas time and started the looooooooong journey to Seoul. We flew over Canada, then Alaska, then touched Japan and finally landed in Seoul after 14 1/2 long hours. I was ready to get off at about 5 hours. I was able to get a little sleep and had a window seat all to myself. I've decided though that I need to brush up on my geography! The flight attendants were all gorgeous and size double 0's and each and every one of them spoke to me in Korean. Only one of them figured out I didn't speak it and spoke to me in English. The rest of them just kept asking me things in Korean and I just went along with it!

I finally arrived in Korea at about 3:45pm Korea time, Sunday. I was picked up by the nicest Holt van driver, Mr. Kim, who spoke very good English and even pointed out the cell phone rental booth and waited for me while I stood in line. We had a good conversation on the 40 minute drive to the Holt Guesthouse, which included him asking if I knew Tim Duncan since we live in the city that's home to the good 'ole Spurs! We then got on the conversation of cars and he asked what I drove. I quietly said "Honda" and he looked over at me and said, "You know that's Japenese made, right? We Koreans don't like Japanese, didn't you see the baseball game?" (Apparently, Japan beat Korea in the World Classic game). So I quickly changed the subject and asked if he would be the one driving me back to the airport on Thursday and he said, "No it will be the younger driver, but he's just as handsome as me!" Mind you, this was all in broken English, but still so funny!

He helped me into the front door at the Guesthouse, which was great, since the doorman doesn't speak English and he basically took my suitcase, showed me to the elevator and taught me how to turn the heated floors on in my room. Very nice man, just no English! My room is small, but just perfect! I am happy to stay here and feel very safe. There's a single bed, closet, dreser with TV (with English stations), and a bathroom that is just funny! The shower head is attached to the wall with no enclosure. So you just have to make sure that nothing you want to keep dry is in the bathroom and spray down! It should be interesting tryin to bathe Zoey on Wednesday night...:)

I was so grateful when my phone rang in my room! It was Maryann and Aaron from the Holt BB and they were waiting for me in the lobby! We walked around and ate something that can only be described as deliciousness (and because I have no idea what it's called, we just pointed to the picture and said "three of those please!") I had a great talk with Maryann and Aaron and they were kind enough to walk me back to the guesthouse before saying goodbye for the evening. I stopped in at the 24 hour mart on the corner to pick up some water and headed upstairs to give the update!

I am enjoying my time already and actually just met a couple from Paris, France, who picked up their adorable baby on Friday and head home tomorrow. The dad is also a Korean adoptee and they have two more adopted children from Korea at home.

The funniest thing so far has been everyone assuming that I speak Korean! And why wouldn't they?! I am Korean after all! I regret not knowing the language and have had to tell people "sorry!". I have had some looks too when talking to Maryann and Aaron and my English coming out so well without an accent! I was just talking about that with the French couple and he said he doesn't speak any Korean either, and imagine their shock when his French accent comes out! Actually, his wife speaks better English than he and his French accent is pretty thick! Such a cute couple and happy to have met them!

Well, I'm off to bed now. I plan to meet up with Maryann and Aaron in the morning at a bakery, if I can find it! Then we'll go to the Holt offices to drop of some the things we brought. There first meeting with Rai is at 1:30pm and mine is 3pm. I can't believe we will both meet our little ones tomorrow! The day is finally here!

My biggest issue is going to be finding an adapter as I thought the guesthouse had 110 outlets. I was mistaken and have no way of blowdrying my sad hair. I will try and post pics of our first meeting, if I can get to wireless internet. I apologize for any typos - I've been traveling all day!